Vibratory contact-lubricator.



W. VON WOLFFRADT, DECD.

w. E. PATTERSON. EXECUTOR.

VIBRATORY CONIACT LUBRICATOR.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 3. 19!].

Patented Sept. 25,

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TEE STATES PATENT EEreE.

WILLIAM VON WOLF'FRADT, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO; WM. E. PATTERSON EXECUTOR OF SAID WILLIAM VON WOLFFRADT, DECEASED.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 25, 1917.

Application filed March 3, 1917. Serial No. 152,173.

To all whom it may concern.- Be it known that 1, WILLIAM VON Wopr- FRADT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland, in the countyof Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Vibratory Contact-Lubricators, of which the following is a specification.

This inventlon relates to lubricating devices designed to supply liquid lubricant, and to feed the same, only when the mechanisms to which they are applied are in op- The primary purpose of my present invention is to produce simple and reliable means for lubricating bearing surfaces, which will economize oil, or other liquid lubricant, by automatically stopping the flow of such lubricant while the mechanism carrying the lubricator is quiescent. Further objects are to adapt my novel constructlons to common forms of oil-cups; to provide a lubricator especially desirable for use on vehi cles, orany other machine which vibrates when in motion; and to employ inexpensive means for accomplishing these purposes, which have no tendency to fail in their op eration'because of'an accumulation thereon.

of wax, gum or dirt.

Minor objects will become apparent from the followin description, and the present preferred em odiments of my invention are illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of a vertically mounted oil-cup with lubricator therein. I

Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation of a horizontally mounted cup with lubrioator.

Fig. 3 is a sectional plan view taken on line 3-3 of. Fig.1.

Fig. 4 is a section of a vertical cup, and

Fig. 5 is a section of a horizontal cup, both having therein a modified form of lubricator.

Fig. 6 is a cup partly in section showing another modification of lubricator.

Figs. 7 and 8 are detailed views of pendulum feeders applicable to the lubricators shown in Figs. 1. 2 and 3.

Fig. 9 is a detailed view of a feeder mounted on a pendulum chain.

The reference letter a indicates in all the figures the shell of an oil-cup, and b is the cover therefor which may be screwed on, or

ailixed in any way to make the cup tight. Vertically mounted cups, such as shown in Figs. 1, 3, 4 and 6, are provided at their bottoms with tubular stems 0, which are usually screw-threaded into the oil passages in the mechanisms to which they are applied. Horizontal cups usually have their shells a screw-threaded into an element of the' mechanism upon which they are borne in some such manner as shown in Figs. 2 and 5 5, in which d indicates an enlarged hollow end, or socket either integral or atlixed, of a vehicle spring-bolt 6 having an-oil duct 1 therein.

' In the vertical cups the passage through the stem 0 is extended upward inside the cup nearly to the cap 6 by means of an upright tube 9, which is either integral with the shell a or tightly jointed thereto. The permissible level of the oil 71 is below the orifice 75 at the top of the tube g. A feeder-wick w is inserted, and led from the bearing surface to be lubricated up through the duct in stem 0 and tube g, having an approximately right angled bend at its point of emergence 0 from said tube, and its termination formed into an annular horizontally disposed loop Z, as'p'lainly shown in Figs. 1, 3, 4: and 5. The feeder w is composed of absorbent material,

such as wicking, reinforced and stifl'ened 5 with wire; preferably twisted in with one or more strands of. wire, as in the well known tobacco pipe cleaners.

.- In installations such as shown in Fig. 4,

the wick-tube g is fitted with a cap-l0, and

the feeder 10 inserted through a small aperture in the side of the tube below said cap.

The inner ends it of horizontal cups are eoncaved, as in Figs. 2 and 5, to form a chamber through which the feeder-wick w may pass into the central duct of the journal e.

The feeder w is led through a close fitting aperture y' into the upper interior of the cup, and formed into a horizontally disposed annular loop Z as described above for the vertical cups.

A filling tube m is secured in the usual way in the cover I) of the vertical cup, and

in the upper side of the shell a in the horizontal cup, said tube having at ca 72. A pin 0 is driven through said tube, rom which a pendulum p is loosely hung, and depends therefrom through the middle of the loop Z into the oil reservoir, as shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, and said pendulum preferably carries at its lower end a small weight g near the bottom of the cup. This pendulum p also bears a cord 7- of wicking, or like ab sorbent material, which should be formed into a small wad or knot s so placed as to make contact on all sides with the inside of the loop Zwhen oscillated, but to hang out of contact with said loop when at rest.

The pendulum p and its wick may be fashioned in various ways, such, for example, as the straight wire with wick r wrapped about it, as in Figs. 1 and 2; or the chain with the wick threaded through its links, as in Fig. 9; or part chain and part absorbent cord, as in Fig. 7; or the plain absorbent cord with bottom weight of Fig. 8. Another modification is shown in Fig. 6, wherein the pendulum p has a loop a formed in it Surroundings. straight end of the feeder w, said loop and the lower part of the pendulum having the wick r wrapped about it.

Substantially the same result may be accomplished by employing, in' lieu of a pendulum p, a helically coiled spring t of fine wire vertically disposed, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5, having its lower end secured to the bottom of the cup a, and its upper end freely projected into the loop Z. The wick 1' is led up through the inside of'the spring t, and its wad 8 formed at the top thereof within the loop' Z. Thus, when the device is shaken or jarred the free upper end of the spring t will vibrate.

. In the operation of the device, while there is oil, or other liquid lubricant, in the cup 0. the oscillatory wick rdipping into said oi will, together with its wad 8, become saturated with it through capillary action; but as long as the mechanism carrying the cup is quiescent no oil will be transferred from said wick, because it does not then touch any other absorbent member. A jarring or tilting of the cup, however, will set up in the pendulum p, or the spring t as the case may be, a series of vibrations due either to the jarring action or to the rolling of the oil, which will bring the saturated wick 1', or

its wad 8, into repeated contacts with the feeder-wick w, thereby transferring at each contact a little oil to said feeder, which eventually saturates the latter, whereupon capillary attraction in the feeder w causes it to feed oil to the bearing surfaces to which it leads as long as the shaking or jarring continues. Thus the device is peculiarly advantageous and economical when applied to vehicles, or other mechanisms which jar or shake in their operation.

Claims:

1. A lubricator having a feeder-wick, and an oscillatory wick adapted to dip into oil and to make contact when vibrated with said feeder-wick.

2. In a lubricator, a stationary feeder-wick, a movable wick supplied with oil, and means whereby said movable wick is vibrated against said stationary wick when the device is agitated.

3. In a lubricator, a stationary feederwick terminating in a loop, and an oscillatory wick extended through said loop and supplied with lubricant.

4. In a lubricator, a stationary feederwick terminating in a loop, a movable wick extended through said loo into an oil receptacle, and means where y said movable .wick is vibrated against the inside of said loop when the device is in operation.

5. In a lubricator, an oil receptacle, an oscillatory pendulum provided with a wick dipping into said receptacle, and a stationary feeder-wick leading from the surfaces to be lubricated into juxtaposition with said pendulumewick.

6. In a lubricator, an oil receptacle, an oscillatory wick dipping into said receptacle having means for communicating to it vibrations of the lubricator structure, a wad of said wick high up in said receptacle, and a feeder-wick fixed in juxtaposition to said wad. 1 Y

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM voiv VVOLFFRADT.

Witnesses:

LE ROY MILLS, CHARLES WOBTHINGTON.- 

